COURSE LOAD
The unit of credit at the College is the semester hour, the amount of credit equivalent to one full class period each week for one semester. A class period is 50 minutes. Thus, a course that meets for three 50 minutes periods each week is a three credit hour course. One that meets for two 75-minute periods each week is also a three credit hour course. Laboratory work involving from 110 to 150 minutes each week is equated to one credit hour.

Full-time students carry a normal course load of 12 to 17 credit hours each semester. Students who wish to enroll for 18-20 credit hours must have the permission of their advisor and division chair, and will be charged additional tuition at the rate of $421/credit hour. No load above 20 credit hours each semester or 8 credit hours in each summer term is permitted.

CLASS STANDING

A student who has successfully completed from 1 to 27 credit hours has freshman standing; from 28-61, sophomore standing; from 62-95, junior standing; and 96 or more, senior standing.

ADVANCED STANDING CREDIT

Advanced Standing Credit is granted students who score at the level recommended by the American Council on Education on College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams. Advanced Standing Credit may also be granted students who score a three or better on the College Board Advanced Placement Program exams. Finally, a student may be granted credit for a course or other experience if they can demonstrate to the Advanced Standing Committee that they have mastered the material in question, and that it corresponds to a course at LeMoyne-Owen College. Examinations used to test this mastery are provided to the Director of Testing by the appropriate division chair. Courses for which credit may be granted through CLEP, AP or LeMoyne-Owen exams are listed under each Academic Division in the Curriculum section of the catalog.

Application and RecordingA student may apply for and receive Advanced Standing Credit at any time. However, this credit will not be recorded on the student’s transcript until the student has completed 12 credit hours at the College. No more than 24 Advanced Standing credit hours may be applied toward a LeMoyne-Owen degree.

All credit obtained through Advanced Standing examination is entered on the transcript with a grade of P. A course with a “P” grade is not included when calculating the GPA. Any matriculated student at the College may apply for Advanced Standing credit by making a written request to the Dean of the Faculty specifying the course for which credit is sought. The deadline for such application is the first week of any semester. A $50 fee must be paid in advance for each Advanced Standing examination. A $25 fee is charged for each Advanced Standing credit hour that is granted. All examinations are administered by the Director of Testing who will give them as needed.

CREDIT FOR PRIOR LEARNING

Students with significant prior experience relevant to their academic program may apply for the Credit for Prior Learning option. The student must discuss with an advisor the nature of the experience, and with the counsel of their advisor, develop a paper relating the prior learning to their academic studies. If the paper and the documentation of the experience are accepted, a student may receive a course credit up to 3 credit hours. The maximum allowable credit is 15 hours. Credit for prior learning is not offered for any of the science, math or computer science courses.

THE GRADING SYSTEM

A course grade represents an instructor’s evaluation of a student’s work as determined by such factors as examinations, written and oral assignments, and other related coursework. The relative weight of each factor in determining the grade is announced by the instructor at the beginning of each course.

A grade of A earns four quality points for each credit hour in the course; a B earns three quality points; a C earns two quality points; and a D earns one quality point for each credit hour. A Grade Point Average (GPA) is calculated by multiplying the quality points (from the grade) times the credit hours earned for each course, then dividing the sum of these products by the total credit hours in which a grade of A, B, C, D, or F is received.

The grade of P - pass is reserved for courses for which credit has been obtained through the Advanced Standing, Credit for Prior Learning and for courses specifically designated as “pass/fail”.

Other DesignationsOther designations are used to indicate the outcome of a student’s work in a course. They are: AU - audit, a course not taken for credit, WA - withdrawn administratively, WD - withdrawn by student before deadline for withdrawal. Courses in which AU, WA or WD is given earn no credit hours and no quality points. The grade I - incomplete, is a temporary grade (see below).

Incomplete Grades

Incompletes will only be granted if :

1. the student has completed at least 75% of the course work with a passing grade;

AND

2. a. the student applies in writing explaining why they cannot complete the work (the memo should be in standard grammatical English, include documentation, be submitted before the final examination for the course; and include contact information)

OR

b. the student has completed all the work at a passing level and has a good attendance record and does not appear at the final examination and the teacher has good reason to believe the absence might be justified.

Students will complete the work on or before 45 days into the next semester (excluding the summer semesters), or the grade will turn to an F.

Students with incompletes will not be allowed to enroll in the same course again until the I has been removed (for courses students can take multiple times) and they will not meet any prerequisite requirements the course may carry until they remove the I grade.

Withdrawal from the College or from a Course

The designation WD is assigned in all cases of withdrawal from a course, whether a student is just withdrawing from a course or leaving the College. To withdraw from a course, it is necessary to file an official Course Withdrawal Form with the Registrar before the deadline published in the College calendar. A student who fails to file this form before the deadline will receive the grade earned in the course. To withdraw from the College, the appropriate form must be filed with the Registrar. A student who leaves the College and fails to file this form can receive no refunds that may be due and will receive an “F” in all courses.

Grade Changes

After a grade is submitted to the Office of Student Records, it cannot be changed because of a revision in the judgment of the instructor. However, a grade change can be made to correct an error in transcribing or computing a grade or, when some part of a student’s timely work was inadvertently overlooked. A grade may also be changed as the result of a formal appeal, as described in the Student Handbook. In no case may a student undertake new work or take a make-up exam to secure a different grade. In the event that the faculty member in a course is no longer on campus, the division chair will handle grade change requests.

Repeating a Course

When a course is repeated, the new grade is recorded in the semester earned. The previous course, its grade and credit hours, remains on the transcript but is not included when calculating the GPA and does not count toward graduation. Certain courses with variable content may be repeated for graduation credit and are included in the GPA each term it is taken. These are clearly identified in the course descriptions.

Class Attendance

When unexcused absences exceed 15% of the scheduled meetings, the instructor may reduce the student’s final letter grade. When unexcused absences exceed 20%, the instructor may give the student an F. Students may not enter a class beyond the date specified on the calendar. Attendance will be reported no later than the end of the third week of classes and any students not attending, No Show, will be disenrolled.

Instructors may grant excused absences for scheduled school activities such as varsity games or course field trips. An excused absence may also be granted if a student provides a written statement from a doctor concerning an illness, a statement concerning a death in the family, or a statement describing other reasons deemed valid by the instructor. The excuse is at the discretion of the instructor.

Work missed or made late by an excused absence may be made up at the discretion of the instructor.

Administrative Withdrawals

A member of the LeMoyne-Owen faculty may administratively withdraw a student. However, such designation is solely at the discretion of the faculty member:

Transcript Information

An official transcript, bearing the College seal, of a student’s record at the College is made available to other educational institutions, to prospective employers, etc., when a request is made in writing by the student or former student.

Unofficial transcripts are made available to the student or others when the student or former student makes a request in writing. Transcripts issued to a student are marked “Unofficial - issued to student.” Students or former students may have two transcripts issued at no charge. A fee of $5 is assessed for each additional transcript requested.

Protection of Privacy

LeMoyne-Owen College complies fully and fairly with The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), as amended. Commonly referred to as the Buckley Amendment, it provides, among other things, that eligible students have the following rights:

• To inspect and review their educational records;
• To challenge the content of their educational records if they believe that it is inaccurate or misleading;
• To consent to the disclosure of personally identifiable information contained in the student’s educational records, except to the extent that FERPA authorized disclosure without consent;
• To file with the United States Department of Education a complaint of alleged failure by the institution to comply with the Act; and
• To obtain a copy of the College’s student record policy.

The Act obliges the College to inform students of their rights and to establish policies and procedures through which their rights can be exercised. The registrar is responsible for policy administration under FERPA. Inquiries should be addressed to the Registrar, Office of Student Records, and Brownlee Hall. Copies of the College’s student records policy can be obtained at the Office of Student Records.

Directory Information

LeMoyne-Owen College designates the following items as Directory Information: a student’s name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height (for members of athletic teams), dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, most recent previous school attended, and photograph.

The College may disclose any of those items without prior written consent unless notified in writing to the contrary within two (2) weeks after the first day of class of the term. Requests for non-disclosure must be renewed for each term with the Office of Student Records.